Duty: The Earthbending Avatar
by TheBrignad
Summary: This is a little experiment of mine. I wrote it for the Earthbending Avatar after Korra. It's set even further into the future, so there are a lot of technological advancements. Hope you enjoy! :D


Book One: Fire  
Chapter One: Birthday

"All right, you ready?"  
"Man, I was born ready for this! Hit it!"  
Masato could do nothing but grin at his friend's excitement as Chen sat in his motorcycle, leather jacket and "bring it on" face both on. There was no other way to celebrate his sixteenth birthday than this. They were finally going to try Chen's latest insane idea: jumping a motorcycle through a ring of fire. Masato quickly got to his safe place as Chen went out a ways back from the chasm he was to jump over, which had to be about 20 feet long, and started revving his engine. He made sure to quickly rub his glasses before the trick so he could see at his best. All around them were their friends, acquaintances, and even people they barely knew. Chen, to say the least, was not very quiet about this. He gave out one last yell before doing this new stunt.  
"HELLO CITIZENS! Today, as you all know, I'm gonna personally blow ALL of your minds in about 30 seconds as I show off my latest trick yet: THE RING OF FIRE! I'm just gonna hop across this gap and go right through a ring my fateful ally Masato will kindly make for me. It will be the greatest thing you have ever seen. ARE YOU READY?"  
"WOOOO!" cheered the crowd.  
_He sure likes the sound of his own voice…_ Masato mumbled to himself.  
"Masato! Make the ring!"  
Right then and there, like he had been practicing, Masato shot a long barrage of flame up into the air and bent them to form a ring big enough for Chen to jump through. This part required prolonged focus on his part, he could not let the ring go, or else it would go out of control.

"NOW I SAID, ARE YOU READY?"  
_Damn it, will you just go already? I feel like I'm gonna pop all the vessels in my brain with this focus…_

"I THOUGHT SO!" Chen screamed in response to the crowd as Masato got more and more sore. "HERE WE GO!"  
Chen started moving his motorcycle and he went faster and faster. Right before he got to the end, he let go of the handlebars, tightened his fingers, and created a ramp before him using his earthbending, something he too had been practicing for weeks. He quickly grabbed the handlebars again and went up the ramp, soon to be soaring through the air, where he let go again. He went straight through Masato's ring, something that quite relieved Masato, and used his earthbending while midair to create another ramp to help him land. Just like he planend it, Chen nailed the landing as his motorcycle went down, even able to do a little turn after he was done. The crowd cheered. Girls swooned as he took his helmed off to reveal his dark face, green eyes, and shaggy hair. He then created a pillar to lift himself up as he thanked everyone for being there.

"I'm serious, this truly meant a lot to me that I could do this and so many people came. It really made by birthday special." Chen explained as he smiled. Masato was a little peeved that Chen wasn't crediting him, always due to Chen's ego problem, but still smiled nonetheless to see his friend so happy.

"THANK YOU ALL!"

Chen got down from his pillar and created a bridge across the chasm he had just jumped. He went over to the exhausted firebender sitting in the pit near the gap.  
"Hey dude, thanks a bunch for helping me out with this trick. You did really good out there." He said, like most things he said, with a smile.  
"For the last time, Chen, people don't do "good", they do "WELL". Come on, get it together."  
"Whatever, Captain Braniac!" Chen joked "it's my birthday, so, the laws of grammar don't apply to me right now. I'm just saying, you're awesome."  
"Hehe, fair enough." Masato said with a smirk. "That was some great stuff you did out there. To be honest, I wasn't even sure if it was a good idea. But damn, you nailed it! Just…next time, be sure to go a bit faster. God, firebending for five minutes straight really made me feel breathed."

"All right, all right, I feel ya there."

"Guys, oh my, wow, that was INCREDIBLE!" panted the rather overweight waterbender who ran up to them.  
Chen gladly accepted the compliment. "Haha, thanks a bunch, Naartok. Especially for coming here. Like I said, it means a lot to me."  
"You guys keep being awesome, all right? Anyway, I gotta get home. I think I'm about to miss lunch…"

"All right! We'll catch ya later!" Chen turned to his best friend. "Hey, I think I'd better get home too. I just know Mom's gonna hear about this, and I figure that the sooner I get the boring and awkward talk over with, the better. Tell everyone I'll seem 'em later!"  
"Ok, see ya, Chen!" Masato decided to take this moment to talk to some of the people in the crowd. He would NOT let Chen get all the glory again. This stuff couldn't just go to his head.

Chen rode his motorcycle on home. His town wasn't the shiniest, but he managed. He did this trick on the outskirts, of course, so he had to go a little ways to get to his town. It was a blazing hot summer day. He got home pretty soon, parked his motorcycle while hanging up his helmet and all that and went inside. His mom's car wasn't there yet, she must have still been at work.

Right when Chen walked in the door, he was ever-so-lovingly tackled by his pet Wolfhog. "Hey Toby! How are ya, buddy?" Toby licked him and then rubbed his pig-nose against him. This was always Chen's favorite part of coming home. That and dropping on the couch to watch some TV. Televisions were invented only shortly before he was born. Chen always wondered how people survived without them.

About an hour later, Chen heard a car come in the driveway. _Ugh, here it comes_... And just as he thought, his mother had heard about his adventures today afterall.

"Chen, what the HELL were you thinking? Were you trying to get yourself killed?" Nuan screamed at her son.

"Come on, mom! I'm sixteen! I can handle myself now!"

"You may have the body of a man, but you certainly don't have the mind of one if you were willing to do something that asinine!"

"Can we not do this, please? It's my birthday, and I just want to have a good day for once…"

Nuan seemed ready to explode, but then she calmed down.  
"*sigh*, all right, Chen. I suppose this day is a little special for me to be

ruining. We'll talk about this later. You know how I worry about you ever since we lost your father…"

"Yeah, I miss him a lot. I wish he could have seen me do this today. I mean, he taught me everything I know about earthbending and motorcycling…"

"I don't think he was trying to teach you how to be an idiot, though."  
"Mooom!"  
"Whatever, son." When their arguments calmed down, Nuan and Chen always had a pretty good relationship. It's just that the arguments were rather frequent. A few seconds later, there was a knock on the door.  
"I'll get it, mom!"  
Chen opened the front door to see a rather strange sight. There were quite a few men wearing blue robes with white in them. They looked rather serious.  
"Hello Chen. We've been waiting for you." Announced an old man in front who seemed to be their leader.  
"Huh? I'm sorry, I think you have me confused…"  
"Yeah, uh, who are you and what do you want with my son?" Nuan said in an aggravated tone.

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry, we forgot to introduce ourselves. We are The Order of the White Lotus, and Chen is going to have to come with us. We have news for him."


End file.
